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Fabricating Custom Projectors

Posted: April 21st, 2006, 1:49 am
by reprobation
Okay, so I've got some old headlights which are in decent shape.. the lenses are well.. they look like mustard.. but that doesn't matter. I just hector's old pair of civic headlights (they got wrecked) but the actual light pieces are intact. so i plan to sand the plastic lenses so that they are clear (no lense lines), and mount the light pieces from the civic lights into the old housings.. I can't fiberglass.. nor do i think that fiberglass would hold up to the heat of these lights.. so..

1st question: Can i use plastic putty to mount these things?
2nd question: I plan to cut out the back of the old housings so that the projectors sink back in to the head light alittle more.. there's just not enough clearance in the housing for the lense to get .. safely.. away from the lights.
3rd question: on the civic lights, there looks to be 4 lights total, 1 turn signal, one projector, and two others i don't know.. one is obviously to be used with the projector light as a high beam.. correct? but which one?! the small regular light, or the large one? (im guessing the large one), if this is right? what the heck is the other one for?!

Thanks guys!

-Chris

Also.. i plan to be taking pictures along the way.. so that if anyone wants to emulate this idea.. or improve upon it.. they can!

Posted: April 21st, 2006, 2:50 am
by Taras
Please save yourself a lot fo trouble and don't sand those damn things. You would be better replacing the lens with a clear one, for example from the Civic one.

Posted: April 21st, 2006, 2:33 pm
by PATDIESEL
1. Sanding the lenses took me and another guy about a month of weekends to get clear, and they still are not 100%.
2. fiberglass is what you would need to use. It is what insulation is made of so it will not burn or melt. I used it on my Hella 90mm which get alot hotter than any crappy Civic projector. Learn it and you'll end up with a better lamp in the end.
3. Really why would you go through all the work when buying a new set of Civic lamps and modifieing them would cost less?

Posted: April 23rd, 2006, 2:06 am
by reprobation
Well i've seen alot of the civic conversions.. and they look good.. but they just don't fit the stock body lines.. :| ionno

i guess im just looking for the cheapest way to do this..
im a broke a-- college student :D

-Chris

Posted: April 23rd, 2006, 1:26 pm
by Limegreen mx-3
How about these i made them.

Image

Posted: April 24th, 2006, 10:27 pm
by reprobation
Those look nice! how'd you do it?!

Ill PM you :)

Posted: May 1st, 2006, 2:45 pm
by lakersfan1
PATDIESEL wrote:1. Sanding the lenses took me and another guy about a month of weekends to get clear, and they still are not 100%.
I'm thinking I'm just going to detatch the clear plastic portion of my headlights and take them to an industrial plastics place and have them do the polishing. Bet they can get them clear with only an hour billed work.

Posted: May 2nd, 2006, 12:16 am
by PATDIESEL
Good luck, but I'd bet even with fancy machines it takes more than an hour. If it does, let me know cause I have a 98% clear set that I want perfect and cannot find a place around here that will finish the job to perfection. Mine would only take an hour at most. I use GTS covers right now, but they just don't fit very well and I'm irritated with both sanding and messing with the GTS covers.